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Thread: Mirage is bought (then hardly driven at all) by lots of people, going by used ads

  1. #1

    Mirage is bought (then hardly driven at all) by lots of people, going by used ads

    I'm always looking at used Mirage ads. (Still haven't found one!)

    One thing I'm starting to see is more than a few 2014's and 2015's for sale with insanely low kms/miles.

    EG: I posted this one a while back in the Cheap Mirages For Sale thread:



    2015 top trim CVT with only 6100 km / 3800 miles, asking only $6500.

    I found 2 more crazy ones today:

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    2015 top trim 5-speed with 9000 km = 5600 miles, asking $7500. In Alberta.

    https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/...-se/1331730825

    This one takes the cake, though:

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    2015 top spec 5-speed with only 5262 km = 3269 miles! Asking $7800, in Quebec.

    https://www.kijiji.ca/v-autos-camion...ine/1334931634

    ============

    My theory:

    I see this fairly often when searching for older entry-level used cars, which are often bought by seniors, who tend not to drive very much.

    But why are they selling after putting on so few kms? Can't say for sure, but I have to wonder if the cars are being sold by family members after the senior passes away. Or maybe the senior has had to give up driving.

    I got my 1998 Pontiac Firefly 1.0L 5-spd (Geo Metro clone in the Canadian market) from the daughter of the owner who had died. The car was 7 years old and only had ~2k km on it. (At that point it hadn't even been started for several years.)

    Seeing this pattern with the Mirage gives me confidence that I'll be able to score a well-preserved, super-low-km example for a good price. Some day.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  2. #2
    One more point:

    Those cars above are obviously the eye-poppingly low-miles examples.

    But there are also plenty of 14's and 15's coming up that have 20 or 30k kms (13-19k miles) on them. That's still well below normal usage - roughly half the average kms you would expect for the year.

    Like this top-spec 2014 with 24k km = 15k mi for $5700 that I posted in the Cheap Mirages thread:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  3. #3
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Possible theories:

    Mirages with bright colors may have been the worst sellers and spent an unusual length of time on the lot before being pushed out the door with big discounts. A purple 2014/2015 may have sat on the lot for over a year before being sold. So these cars may generally have lower miles because they were the last ones to be sold.

    Maybe a buyer who wasn't looking for a Mirage bought one just because it was cheap...then had second thoughts after owning one for a while and realized the car wasn't for them. Then they found out you can't trade one in because nobody will give you anything for it. So they end up sitting on it but not driving it much.


    Here is a low-mileage Mirage that's been for sale for more than a year. My guess is the owner bought it before the rebates. Now he needs to sell it...but he can't because his loan payoff is higher than the market value of the car. Someone will get a nice car when the price finally comes down.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  4. The Following User Says Thank You to Top_Fuel For This Useful Post:

    MetroMPG (03-28-2018)

  5. #4
    Good theories! The more the better.

    I have an e-mail alert set up for Fireflies & Metros within ~500 km, and a surprising number with less than 100k km / 60k miles have come up in the last couple of years. These are cars that are near 20 years old, so they've averaged about 5k km or 3k miles a year. That's what influences my seniors theory.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  6. #5
    Where's the leak ma'am? Marklovski's Avatar
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    People I have seen driving a mirage in person:

    - the elderly
    - 3rd world immigrants
    Fuel Log: Good enough
    Instagram: @zoras_sapphire

  7. #6
    Senior Member strawboss's Avatar
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    I didn't verify this personally but a neighbour has told me that a local dealer (Ottawa) has 2015 models on his lot with no mileage!
    But their asking price is almost msrp for that model year....

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES Plus 1.2 automatic: 37.9 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  8. #7
    Is that recent news?

    When I returned the 2017 G4 loaner to Bank Street Mitsu last spring, there were a handful of unsold 2015's on the lot.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  9. #8
    Senior Member strawboss's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    Is that recent news?

    When I returned the 2017 G4 loaner to Bank Street Mitsu last spring, there were a handful of unsold 2015's on the lot.
    Yes, I heard that about 6 weeks ago.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES Plus 1.2 automatic: 37.9 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  10. #9
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    A lot of people just don't drive very much. They have a short commute, everything is within a mile or two of their house, etc.

    I have seen lots of 'granny cars' that are 20 years old and only have 30,000 miles on them. Nothing new.

    There are probably just as many people on the other end of spectrum. My car is a '15 and has over 90,000 miles on it.

  11. #10
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Yep. I'm near 17,000 miles on my 2015.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


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